I made my first pizza-making attempts with all-purpose-flour (German Type 550) and mostly Peter Reinhart’s formulas. After figuring out how to knead the dough, I was quite pleased but I still found the crust a bit tough.

So I decided to by me some Tipo 00 flour. Not knowing that there are differences between the various brands, I ended up with the only Flour that was available at my local store: ‘Farina Speciale per Tipo 00 – Type 405*’. Probably some low-protein clone, milled in south-west Germany .(*German ‘Type 405’ equals ‘cake flour’).

The first pizza using only this type of flour was very disappointing as it came out very dry and flavorless. Then I remembered that I did read that people in Italy often mix different flours (e.g Tipo 0 & Tipo 00), so I tried 60% Tipo 00 and 40% bread-flour and voila, it was the best pizza I made so far: it was light, chewy and even had airy pockets!

And here are my questions:

1. Regarding my (low-protein) Tipo 00-flour: any ideas how people in Italy mix this type of flour with higher-protein-flour if they use this type of flour at home?

2. Satisfied with the results I achieved with my Tipo-‘Clone’ I’m thinking about ordering some Caputo-flour, either Caputo Farina 00 Pizza Chef (the red one with ~13,5% protein) or the blue one (Caputo Blu Farina Pizzeria, ~12,5%p.). Can I use these without mixing them with bread flour in my home oven(I think so – ‘cause these already are specialized pizza mixtures, right?)